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Nydia Tisdale found guilty of obstructing an officer after high-profile criminal trial

Citizen journalist yet to be sentenced for resisting arrest of then-Capt. Tony Wooten

Nydia Tisdale

Allie Dean

Updated:
Dec. 4, 2017, 5:57 p.m.

DAWSON COUNTY - On Monday afternoon a Dawson County jury unanimously found
self-described citizen journalist Nydia Tisdale guilty of a misdemeanor charge
of obstruction of an officer for resisting arrest by former Capt. Tony Wooten
of the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office.

After nearly four hours of deliberation, the jury also
unanimously found Tisdale, 54, not guilty of a felony charge of obstruction of
an officer as well as not guilty of a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass.

Senior Superior Court Judge Martha Christian was prepared to
proceed into a sentencing hearing, but defense attorney Bruce Harvey said after
the verdict was read that he was unprepared to enter into a sentencing hearing
due to the lateness of the hour and the need to give witnesses notice.

Christian said that a sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9:30
a.m. Dec. 18 at the Dawson County Courthouse.

Tisdale
was indicted by a grand jury in March of 2016 and charged with one felony count
of obstruction of an officer and misdemeanor counts of obstruction of an
officer and criminal trespass after she was forcibly removed from the rally by
then-Capt. Tony Wooten of the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office.

Tisdale
was accused of kicking Wooten in the shins and elbowing him in the face while
being escorted off the property, as well as refusing to leave private property
when asked by Wooten, who represented the property owners.

Witnesses testified Tisdale was asked twice to stop filming the political
candidates speaking at the rally before Wooten forcibly escorted her into a
nearby barn to await backup.

Tisdale said she did not know Wooten’s name or that he was a police officer
when the incident occurred, and that he sexually assaulted her while he held
her in the barn with her arms behind her back.

She also said she was never asked to leave the farm before she was forcibly
removed.

This
is not the first legal battle that Tisdale has been involved in.

In August of 2015, Tisdale filed notice that a lawsuit against
the Dawson County Sheriff's Office and Dawson County Board of Commissioners was
looming unless a settlement could be reached in the case.

The notice said Tisdale was seeking $550,000 and a public
apology from Wooten, who she claims made inappropriate contact of a sexual
nature with her while attempting to take her into custody.

In
early 2015, Tisdale was awarded $200,000 in a settlement by the City of
Cumming, where she was thrown, illegally, from a city council meeting that she
was attempting to record.

After Tisdale was indicted and pleaded not guilty to the obstruction
and trespassing charges in Dawson County, she filed a federal lawsuit in
Gainesville claiming the arresting officers violated her constitutional rights
and asked to take the civil case before a jury in May of 2016.

The suit against three Dawson County Sheriff's deputies claims
her First, Fourth and 14th Amendments were violated in the arrest, and Capt.
Tony Wooten, Cpl. Russell Smith and Cpl. Laura Bishop were personally named in
the suit.

Tisdale also filed a suit against the Burts seeking punitive
damages, litigation which she filed on Aug. 22, 2016 in Dawson County Superior
Court. The case was later voluntarily dismissed.

In 2015,
Tisdale was awarded $200,000 in a settlement by the City of Cumming, where she
was thrown, illegally, from a city council meeting that she was attempting to
record.